


Reckless

by ghostLEEghostie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-07-29 03:38:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7668661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostLEEghostie/pseuds/ghostLEEghostie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean Winchester are Hunters - they hunt anything not natural.</p><p>Margret Mason is also a Hunter - and she has a vendetta against everything paranormal.</p><p>They all knew each other once, but since then they've never talked much. It was long ago and only Dean seems to remember the good times - cinemas, playgrounds, and treehouses. Margret and Sam don't seem to remember much, or anything at all.</p><p>When Margret "Maggie" Mason is found kidnapped and kept in her mother's basement by a demon, the Winchester's aren't far behind. What they find is something they never expected.</p><p>Now faced with keeping an injured hot-tempered Hunter away from hunting for a while, Dean and Sam aren't sure if she's worth the trouble.</p><p>She's just too damned reckless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting it.”  
> –Buddha

Dean drags a groan as he lies on his motel bed, the bed springs creak under his weight. He closes his eyes and listens to the dull buzzing from the cooler, and if he listens closer then he can hear Sam talking to someone on the phone outside.

“I don’t know if we can visit today, Mrs. Mason,” Sam says, a tone of unsureness is audible, “yes, I know it’s been a long time, but I have a full schedule – oh, okay – yep – we’ll be there in time for lunch… No, thank you, Mrs. Mason, bye-bye.”

Dean is now sitting straight on his bed as he sees Sam, through the window, looking at his phone with a confused expression, before entering the motel room.

“Who was that?” Dean asks as he distracts himself with organizing his duffle bag.

“Do you remember Mrs. Mason? Our old babysitter,” Sam asks Dean as he grabs two beers. Dean nods as he grabs one of the beers.

“Yeah, she always took us to see movies, bought us a large bucket of popcorn and our own sodas. She was the best babysitter we’ve had,” Dean rambles as he keeps his smile, “and her daughter, Maggie, they made us feel like family.”

“Anyways,” Sam continues “I just got off the phone with her and – well – we're having lunch at her house."

“Okay, great, a nice home cooked meal and we get to see Maggie,” Dean says as he stands up. “Let’s get going, Sammy.”

“Ugh, take a shower first. You stink,” Sam says as he covers his nose.

\- - -

When Dean and Sam meet Mrs. Mason (alternatively called Grandma), they didn't expect her to look so young. She did have many qualities of an older woman; wrinkles, gray hair, and a fragile stature), but Grandma didn't look like she was in her mid-80's.

“Hello, boys,” Grandma says as she embraces them at the front door.

“Hey, Mrs. Mason,” Sam says.

“Grandma," Dean cheers as he hugs her gently, "you still kick asses and breaking hearts?" he jokes. Grandma laughs whole-heartedly as she kisses each men's cheek.

"Dean Winchester, my how handsome you've gotten… and little Sam. Why, when I last saw you, you hadn't reached my hip," she says, causing both men to smile and blush.

"Thanks, Mrs. Mason – "

"Call me ‘Grandma', Sam. We're well past ‘Mrs. Mason'," she says then leads them inside. "Now, you might be wonder'n why I called you, Sam – and it wasn't easy, too." She starts as she goes into the kitchen and stirs food in a pot.

Dean and Sam sit down at the dining table in the kitchen. Mrs. Mason places two cups of sweet iced tea in front of them and continues talking.

"It all started 'bout five years ago," she places a lid on the pot and turns to another cooking pan, "Margret had just gotten a new job, she had been laid off her previous job, and the job was clear 'cross the country. Oh, she was so excited and called me to let me know that she'll find me a nice house with a yard and pool."

The Winchester's knows that she was drifting into a memory because the smile that was on her is slowly disappearing, then she continues her story, "then she told me she's gonna call me once she'd gotten off the plan, but she didn't. Slowly, she started to drift away from me. I didn't mind, though, 'cause I thought her new job was taking up her time. Then, she went silent. No one heard from her."

She turns her attention to the boys and pours herself a glass of sweet iced tea.

"And one day as I was tending to my gardening, Margret shows up covered in blood and dirt. She asked me for help before she collapsed," Mrs. Mason says then sips the tea, "There's something off 'bout her, boys. She doesn't eat. She doesn't sleep. Good Lord, she's hardly left the house."

"What do you want us to do?" Dean asks.

"I don't know, hon. Margret is in the basement - isolated herself down there - and she kept going on about calling you two. That's all I can even understand in her nonsense," Mrs. Mason says then grabs each of their hand tightly. "I know you two can help. You take after your daddy, I know it. Help my little girl."

They glance at each other and share a nod.

"Of course, we'll help... Can we see Maggie?" Sam says. Mrs. Mason nods.

"Thank you, boys. God bless you for helping," she says then leads them to the basement door at the end of the hallway. "Margret? Sam and Dean are here."

She looks at them wearily before she opens the door. She enters the basement and cautiously steps down the stairs.

"The lights don't work down here... hardly anything works down here," she comments as she uses the wall to guide her way down. Dean and Sam slowly follow behind her, Dean's hand idly goes to the gun in his waistband. "Margret?"

"... ma... ma..." Maggie says, her voice barely audible, "'s n't ma... ma."

"What that, baby?" Mrs. Mason says as she goes closer.

"Hey, Maggie? It's me, Dean Winchester, do you remember me?" Dean says as he slowly walks closer to where he heard Maggie.

The basement is dark and cold, Dean and Sam shivered when they first entered, and they wonder how Maggie could live here.

"not... mama..." she whispers, her voice hoarse and dry. Dean goes closer as his eyes adjust to the darkness. He could see the outline of her body on the floor, lying on a thin and tattered mattress.

"What?" He says as he strains his eyes to see her. Once he can see her, he's shocked at her appearance. Her hair is wild and dirty, her skin is paler and covered in dried blood and dirt, as her clothes are torn and dirty. "Oh my God," he whispers.

"That's not mama," she whispers louder. "...demon," Dean hears her this time and he stands and grabs the gun from his waistband, pointing it at Mrs. Mason.

"Dean! What the hell?" Sam yells.

"Who are you?" Dean growls as he glares at Mrs. Mason.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam says as he looks at the gun, Dean, and a scared Mrs. Mason.

"Sam, that's not Mrs. Mason... It's a demon," Dean says as he cocks the gun. "Don't make me ask again, you demonic son of a bitch."

They stand in silence as Sam debates risking letting Dean shoot an innocent woman or, if Dean's right, saving a demon.

"Dean, don't be stupid. It's me!" Mrs. Mason pleads as she's visibly shaken. "What did Maggie say?"

"Doesn't matter because I want you out of Mrs. Mason on the count of three!" Dean shouts.

"Dean this is ridiculous. I'm not a demon," Mrs. Mason pleads.

"One!"

"Dean, please listen to me! I'm not possessed!"

"Two!"

"Sam! Talk sense into this boy!"

"Thre--"

"You wouldn't really shoot an innocent old lady, now would you, Dean?" Mrs. Mason says in a daring and sadistic tone. She stands straight, no longer appearing fragile, and a wicked smirk is spread on her lips as her eyes stare at him with a hint of malicious intent.

Dean stares at Mrs. Mason then lowers the gun slightly. Sam stares at the older woman in shock before he quickly takes out his own gun.

"Who are you?" Sam asks seriously.

"Oh, just a nameless demon following orders," she says nonchalantly.

"Why go after the Mason's?" Dean asks.

"The little bitch got too curious for her own good," she says then looks at Maggie on the old mattress, "examples must be made, but when I possessed poor old mom, I found a juicy little secret. Mama's little girl knew the Winchesters and boy did she make an impression, right Dean?"

Dean glares harder at the demon and felt his finger tense against the trigger. He wanted to shoot the demon, but he didn't want to kill Mrs. Mason.

"Get out of her," Dean growls.

"Or what? You'll shoot? We both know that won't happen," she says smoothly, "No, I think I'll keep her a little bit longer."

"What do you want?" Sam asks.

"I want many things, Sammy," she purrs.

Dean's jaw clenches, This is useless, he thinks.

"Sam, exorcise the son of a bitch," Dean says.

"Right," Sam says then starts the chant. The demon tenses then start to wriggle and writhe as Sam continues the exorcism.

"Exorcise me and I'll rip apart her soul!" the demon screams, distorting Mrs. Mason's voice.

Sam pauses.

"Sam, keep going," Dean orders.

"I can't, Dean."

The demon laughs as Mrs. Mason's face contorts to an evil grin. She fixes her hair and clothes.

"Now, where were we?" she says then waves her hand and the boys are thrown against the nearest wall. "Ah, yes, getting rid of Velma and Daphne."

In the corner on the floor, Maggie slowly reach for the broken pipe she managed to break off. She grips it tight then turns over and slowly and achingly stands up.

"Hey!" Maggie yells as she holds the pipe with both hands. "Get out of my mother you piece of shit!"

The demon laughs as it looks at her. "I thought I had broken you. Doesn't matter ‘cause I will."

"Then come and get me," Maggie challenges the demon. The demon tauntingly walks toward Maggie then stops on the old rug in the middle of the room. It glares at her, eyes turning black, and mouth curls into a snarl.

"You bitch," it insults. Maggie smirks then slowly walk closer.

She swings at the pipe above the demon and breaks it, spraying water at the demon. The demon screams and falls to the ground as Dean and Sam are released from its hold against the wall. The demon's sizzles and smokes as it tries to get away.

Sam rushes to Maggie and lifts her up.

"Let's go," Maggie says weakly, "it won't stay down for long."

Sam nods then head toward the basement stairs and leaves, Dean right behind them. As they leave the house a loud demonic scream echoes in the air and the house violently shakes.

"How did you do that?" Sam asks as he helps Maggie into the back of Dean's Chevy Impala.

"I put a crucifix in the pipe and blessed the water running through the house. The demon doesn't use the water too much. I used some old crayons to draw a devil's trap under the rug. If I could get it to stand there then it's trapped and the Holy water was payback," Maggie says as Sam enters the passenger seat, and Dean sits in the driver's seat.

"How long have you been down there?" Dean asks.

"Years, I think," Maggie says then looks out the window and to her mother's home. "Let's go."

Dean revives the engine and presses on the gas as Sam worrily glances at Maggie from the rearview mirror.

"How do you know what a devil's trap is?" Sam asks. Maggie clears her throat and looks down.

"You have your life and I have mine... It just so happens to be parallel paths," Maggie says then lies her head on the seat. "I'll tell you everything later," she closes her eyes and sighs, "Thank you, boys."

"Yeah, no problem. Get some rest," Sam says then looks at Dean. They exchange unsure and worry looks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean is dirty, the ocean does not become dirty”  
> – Mahatma Gandhi

When they arrive at the bunker, Maggie’s awake and silent. Sam leads her through the bunker and to her own room as Dean tries to find extra clothes for her to change to.

All she thinks about is events throughout the year, when she was trapped in her own mother’s home and tortured to reveal anything she knew. She tried to stay strong and say nothing, but the demon knew it’s way around knives and the human anatomy. There’s also the time before that, losing friends she cares deeply about, and the innocent lives she couldn’t save.

It felt like Hell on Earth.

Maggie cleans herself up, washing away the dirt and grime that she’s collected, and hopes the water would wash away the memories as well.

It didn’t.

When her fingers run over the scars across her body, and the scabs that hasn’t fully healed yet, she could hear her screams and cries for help. She closes her eyes and can see the bloody knife in front of her and the demon’s sadistic grin.

“Maggie? You all right in there?” Sam asks. He’s obviously worried over her.

“Yeah, just – just finishing up,” she says then turns off the water and steps out.

“All right. Dean made some dinner. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll help you over,” he says. She can hear his footsteps walk around the room and the bed squeak under his weight.

She sighs as she looks down at her body. It’s carved with scars and scabs; some places have skin missing and healed over with scar tissue. She slides on Dean’s pair of jeans – the only one they had that was closer to her size– and tightens a belt through it, and then pulls over a large t-shirt. She wishes they had a long sleeve shirt to cover the scars on her arms, but they didn’t.

She exits the bathroom with her towel and used clothing. She hands the clothes to Sam, so it can be washed later, then slowly limps to the bed and towel dries her hair. Sam leaves so she can have some privacy and to put her old clothes away. As she dries her hair, she thinks about what to do next. She can always find the demon that possessed her mother, but she doesn’t know its name or where it would go next. It might start looking for her or the Winchesters.

Perhaps the Winchester’s know where the demon might be, but she can’t bring them into this fight. They have their own lives, and cases, to attend to. Also, asking them to help her seems asking too much of them. They saved her and now she needs to do the same and not bring them into her fight.

She might not even win.

Maggie slowly stands as Sam walks into the room, he’s quick to her side and helps her stand. They don’t say anything as they leave the room. The sound of her bare feet and his shoes echo through the corridor. She watches the water from her hair fall to the floor.

“How’re you doing?” Sam asks gently. Maggie grimaces as she feels her legs about to give out.

“A little better… I’m out of that Hellhole, so…” she trails off, letting Sam figure out the rest. In all honesty, she’s physically feeling better, but emotionally and mentally she feels like shutting down. She feels like wasting away in the room, but a small part of her wants to keep fighting.

Her mother’s still out there, possessed by a demon, and Maggie needs to save her.

“Hey,” Sam says as they stop a few feet away from the kitchen. He turns to look at her, but she refuses to look at him and, instead, stares at the floor, “If you ever need to talk about anything, I’m here.”

She does her best to smile as she slowly looks at him. She needs to be as convincing as possible, but one look into Sam’s eyes and she knows he’s here to help. She feels guilty for acting like she’s okay and doesn’t need his help.

“Thank you, Sam,” she says then forces him to help her to the kitchen by inching forward. She was never good at talking about feelings, or anything that bothered her. She lost friends from her horrible communication skills. Intimacy was never her strongest trait.

As they enter the kitchen she inhales the smell of burgers and slowly inches her way to the table. Sam pulls a chair out for her and she grips onto the table to help herself down.

“What’s on the menu, Chef Winchester?” Maggie says as she settles on the chair, groaning in pain as the wound on her leg tears slightly. Sam takes notice and checks her leg. She’s open an old wound, but not too much. He grabs a first aid kit from under the sink and bandages her up.

“Burgers,” Dean says after chuckling and then hands her a plate, his eyes wander to the many scars on her arms and leg. “Eat up,” he says then gives her a fake smile and pretends he never saw them. She gives that same smile to people all the time.

Sam briefly leaves to grab his lunch and laptop before Dean fixes himself a burger as well. Maggie happily does as he says, gripping the burger and taking a bite out. Sam sits beside her with a salad and green smoothie.

“Do you have another one of those?” Maggie asks as she points at the green smoothie. Sam looks at her then the smoothie and nods.

“Yeah, just let me get you a cup,” he says then stands up. Dean sit across from them and eyes his burger hungrily. They eat in silence for a while. 

Sam types on his laptop, sips at his smoothie, often taking a bit from his salad. 

Dean eats his burger, sips at his beer, and often looks at Maggie to see if she’s fine. 

Maggie silently eats while she avoids Dean’s eyes and Sam’s constant typing.

“So, Maggie, when did you start hunting?” Dean asks, breaking the silence. Maggie has finished her burger by then and she was sipping at the smoothie.

“Um, a bit after I turned eighteen,” she answers simply. She doesn’t know how much information he wants.

“Oh, um, what made you turn to hunting?” he asks. 

She feels uncomfortable with people asking about her personal life, especially hunting. She never had a big change in her life that caused her to go to it. No one in her life died or persuaded her to go into this lifestyle.

“Nothing…” she says. The look on Dean’s face made her realize she needed to elaborate, “I never found myself going to college or finding a career. I didn’t find myself doing anything – anything normal.”

“So, you decide to go into the one field that doesn’t pay the bills or guarantee a family or anything normal?” Dean asks. His tone was hinting he was a bit angry and she picked up on that.

“I don’t want a family, Dean. I’m not a woman that wants to fall in love or raise a child. I want to save people,” She argues, obviously irritated that he’s angry.

“Oh, but being in a line of duty where you could die is fine?” he replies.

“Dean,” Sam warns Dean.

“If I wanted to die in a line of duty then I’d join the military, but fighting other humans while knowing there’s a greater threat isn’t what I want,” Maggie says, her voice getting louder, “What makes you different, huh?”

Dean stops and stares at her as he tries to think of a reply. They’re not very different, except he’s been raised into this lifestyle while she chose it. That’s what pisses him off. She chose to go into this, while he knew about everything from the start.

“Well, I had to protect Sammy, all right,” He replies, his voice getting louder as well, “I couldn’t just walk away and leave Sam here. Those things went after us and it was kill or be killed. Ever since then we’ve been fighting monster after monster.”

“Oh? And where do you think that started? The first monster that came to you guys and then what? You knew there were more out there. You knew there were more things killing people and those people can’t defend themselves,” Maggie shouts, “And while those people are dying, what do you want me to do? Huh? Sit behind a cubicle? Behind a desk studying to be behind a cubicle? I didn’t get called into duty, like you two. I joined so that while you two are fighting one monster across the country, I’m at the other end fighting one too.”

At this point, Maggie’s crying and her voice is shaking. She can’t take it when people treat her like she can’t fend for herself. She’s a strong woman that worked to save people – even if she lost some people on the way. She also hated that when she gets riled up enough, she cries and can’t control it. It made her look weak, and she hates that.

“I don’t want glory or a paycheck out of this,” Maggie says, her voice still shaking, “I want to know that the people, shitty or decent, are safe and still unaware of the war going on at night,” Maggie is standing by now, her legs shaking from pain, but she didn’t pay any mind to it. She was too angry and adrenaline filled that is scares Dean a little. “I don’t want to hear any more about this, Dean. What happened, happened. Don’t patronize me for choosing to fight alongside you guys.”

She turns and starts to limp away, Sam standing to help her, but she snaps that she doesn’t need help. She could feel the adrenaline diminish the further she got away from the kitchen. After a while, she’s in too much pain to continue, so she settles herself in the hallway.

Sliding to the floor, she clutches her leg and grits her teeth in pain. She thinks about how she went off on Dean, yelling and – hell – even crying. Honestly, she feels that it was a tad too much, but she doesn’t want to limp back and apologize. Whether it was Pride or refusal to admit she was wrong, she doesn’t return.

As she sits in the hallway, hand on her leg and eyes closed, she allows her thoughts to wander anywhere other than her leg. She knows that if she had gone off like that to her previous friends, they’d throw her into the street – which a couple had done – but she’s not sure about Sam and Dean. She doesn’t know how they are, but she knows she can’t stay here.

-

“She’s so ungrateful! We saved her! We let her stay here! Hell, we even feed her! And she gets mad at us!” Dean shouts as he angrily paces the kitchen. “God, what happened to her, Sam?” Dean has stopped pacing and is looking at Sam, clearly worried, but still angry.

“I don’t know, Dean,” Sam says as he looks at his laptop, closing the tab that says ‘Family Disappears At Sea; Searching Starts’ and shuts his laptop. “but, yelling and shouting isn’t a way to get information.”

“She started it,” Dean says as he points at the kitchen door.

“I don’t care,” Sam says then stands up, “I’m going to check on Maggie. Don’t touch my laptop. The last time you were on it, it froze on a porn website.” Sam turns around and leaves the kitchen to look for Maggie, most likely she’s wandering the halls or isn’t too far.

What keeps replaying in Sam’s mind is Dean’s question, ‘What happened to her, Sam?’, because Sam doesn’t remember much about Maggie or her mother. Hell, he didn’t know they knew the Mason’s until Mrs. Mason brought up a summary over the phone. 

Why can’t he remember them? Was he too young? Does Maggie remember them as much as Dean?

It irked Sam that he can’t remember anything about them.

-

Maggie looks around and sighs before she grips the nearest door handle and pulls herself up with a groan. She bites her lips as her leg pulses pain throughout her body and shuts her eyes tight. Once she’s standing, she makes her way toward her room to gather the rest of her thoughts.

“Hey! Maggie!” Sam says as he jogs up to her, but doesn’t have to jog very far. “What the hell was that about?” he moves to help her, but she pushes his hand away.

“Dean pissed me off, so what?” She says as she continues on her way to her room.

“I saw that, but you – you got really emotional and – let me help you,” Sam says. She knows that Sam will keep trying to help her, so she allows him. “and I want to know what’s wrong.”

She doesn’t reply to him as he helps her. She stays quiet as she thinks about a way to approach this conversation. Should she tell him the truth? What is the truth? She’s not sure why she’s mad most of the time. She’s mostly just generally pissed off at things. She doesn’t need a reason, but this – this felt like she has a reason. A different reason than being treated like a child.

“I don’t know,” she says as she reaches her room, the only room that’s open, “but once I do, then I’ll let you know.”

“All right, give me a shout if you need me,” Sam says as she slams the door in his face.

Sam sighs then heads back to an empty kitchen and a note from Dean saying ‘Went for a beer run. Be back soon. – Dean’. Sam sits at the table and opens his laptop and researches anything related to Margret Mason.

He didn’t find anything, so he picks up his phone and calls for backup.

“Hey, Charlie. Are you busy?” he asks.

“No, what’s up, Sam?” Charlie responds.

“I need your help looking up someone… Margret Mason, also goes by Maggie,” Sam says.

“No problem. If I find anything then I’ll email you,” she says then hangs up.

Sam puts his phone down and stares at his laptop. He wishes he can remember Maggie, like Dean, but he can’t.

“I hope what Charlie finds is good,” Sam sighs.


End file.
